Vladimir Lenin

Founding head of Soviet Russia and the first leader of the Soviet Union.

Chronology: 1870-04-22 – 1924-01-21

Origins & Early Life

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Ideologically a Marxist, his developments to the ideology are called Leninism.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Born to an upper-middle-class family in Simbirsk, Lenin embraced revolutionary socialist politics following his brother's 1887 execution. Expelled from Kazan Imperial University for protesting against the Tsarist government, he devoted the following years to a law degree. He moved to Saint Petersburg in 1893 and became a senior Marxist activist. In 1897, he was arrested for sedition and exiled to Shushenskoye in Siberia, where he married Nadezhda Krupskaya. After his exile, he moved to Western Europe, where he became a prominent theorist in the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP).

Enduring Legacy & Impact

In 1903, he took a key role in the RSDLP ideological split, leading the Bolshevik faction. Following Russia's failed Revolution of 1905, he campaigned for the First World War to be transformed into a Europe-wide...

Source: Wikipedia